We suspect that
2010 will show some signs of recovery mixed with continued hardship for
many hotels. We all know what happens when revenue levels are
constricted; fewer dollars in, fewer dollars to spend. At this point,
careful consideration should be made for every dollar spent to develop
business.

For many years,
hotel companies have grappled with the decision of how many marketing
dollars to commit to build business. At no time in history has this been
a bigger challenge for hotels. Many hoteliers have historically
considered marketing dollars as redundant if these dollars are needed to
cover revenue shortfalls and/or operational over-spending.

This practice of
redirecting dollars, which were ear-marked for marketing, to cover
revenue shortfalls, could be a
critical mistake in 2010. In actuality, it is too easy to cut marketing
dollars to temporarily improve a P&L statement. After-all, every dollar
spent on marketing comes off the bottom-line. This makes the marketing
budget extremely vulnerable.

We must avoid the
dreaded downward spiral; reducing rates to temporarily increase
occupancy reduces revenue and profit. Using lower rates as a marketing
strategy is just plain self-defeating. You may successfully sell a few
more rooms, but you will enjoy it less. Don't join the "woe is me"
crowd. Create more value, then market that value.

The fact is that
hotels which devote the time, money, and human resources to market and
promote their hotel in 2010 , will be the ultimate winners when the
economy returns to normal. This is an opportunity to harvest increased
market share, which will provide a huge payback for hotels aggressive
enough to go after it. But, it will take planning and commitment to
accomplish this.

When times are
tough, operational spending must be carefully reviewed. Service levels
and amenities, which were developed during the boom years, must be
re-considered. The revenue will not be there until we stop considering
sales and marketing funds as discretionary and not essential to building
business. It's time to make commitments.

Strategies & Planning

In this writer's
opinion, 2010 will not be a time for experimentation and new market
development. Creating new business markets is costly and time-consuming.
It can sometimes be rewarding,
but we have neither the money nor the time to do it properly. It's time
to review your historically productive market segments, prioritize them,
and create a plan to grow them. Target marketing dollars to historically
lucrative markets and always weigh the results.

If marketing funds
are limited, prioritize markets in which to concentrate. Hoteliers need
to search-out the 20% of markets that produce 80% of the business for
your hotel; the old 80/20 rule. At the same time during the
prioritization process, hoteliers need to assess the response speed of
each market. How long and how many dollars will it take to see positive
results; speed is good. Everyone is hurting, so create those travel
partnerships, which you never found the time to do before.

Any plan, designed
to build business in 2010, must include a comprehensive Internet and
electronic marketing presence. There are few market segments, if any at
all, which can produce results as quickly or with the zest of business
as is possible with the Internet. Nothing you can do to produce business
can equal the cost-effectiveness and return-on-investment of a well
conceived Internet marketing program.

There are still too
many hoteliers who have been unable or unwilling to devote marketing
dollars to get their fair share of the increasingly lucrative Internet
market. These hoteliers must understand that simply having a website is
not nearly enough.

Anyone, who is
serious about developing a strong Internet presence, should come to
terms about how their website is performing. Performance is measuredby the number of visitors your site attracts and, more
importantly, the number of reservations it generates; organic search and
sales. We still see many hoteliers who have no idea to what extent their
website is contributing, if at all.

As we head into
2010, it's time to get a true and honest assessment of your website to
determine its soundness and functionality. Unfortunately, there are
still too many hotel sites, which were designed by people who know
little about search and/or hotel sales. This has resulted in having many
hoteliers who have dysfunctional websites and, sadly, don't know it.

The challenge is
that they don't know that the basic structure of their site is more than
likely the cause for failure. Designing an attractive site is only a
small part of a functional site..You simply cannot determine the
functionality of a website by the way it looks.

There are many
knowledgeable site developers who can provide you with a objective
analysis of the search and sales soundness of your site. Often, minor
changes can make a huge improvement in its functionality. This is often
a small investment to improve Internet sales.

Human Resource Trends

Human resources
will still play an essential role in hotel marketing for 2010. I believe
that there are marketing people who may be perfectly suited for an
abundant economy, but are totally unsuited for a tough one. Tough times
call for tough players. Sometimes it's necessary to go to the bullpen to
bring in a heavy-weight when increasing market share is the goal.

If this is
financially out-of-reach, get some training for your sales and marketing
staff. If training is out-of-reach, many hotels have delegated marketing
duties among other staff members. During a robust economy, this would
not be a wise decision, but it is becoming more common today.
The lack of leadership can be
solved if the general manager or someone on staff has the marketing
experience to implement the program.

Many hotels have
solved the marketing leadership problem by outsourcing this role to
outside marketing experts to guide their internal process. This is
becoming a popular and very cost-effective way to implement a productive
marketing plan without adding to permanent payroll cost.

It's time to end
the practice of shoot-from-the-hip marketing spending and lack of
commitment to building business through marketing. For 2010, marketing
will not be the primary thing, it will be the only thing for success.